


Super Secrets

by still_lycoris



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Dawn finds out, Gen, Season 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-30
Updated: 2009-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-23 18:16:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6125662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dawn never realised there would be problems with her sister being a superhero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Super Secrets

It never occurred to Dawn that there could be any problems with having a big sister who was a real-life super-hero.

She and Buffy had always played games when they were little. Games where Buffy was a super-hero and Dawn needed to be rescued. They’d always been fun (even if Dawn _did_ sometimes wish that _she_ could be the hero) It had been one of their best games and Dawn had been sad when Buffy had abruptly insisted that they were too old to play anymore.

She found out before her mother did. It made sense really. She had been the one who'd found and read Buffy's diary. She'd been the one who'd noticed that Buffy was sneaking out more. She was the one who had to put up with Buffy when she was tired and cross. She'd also been the one to cover for Buffy sometimes. _“Tell Mom I was here the whole time, okay? You're old enough to be by yourself, right? Just don't answer the door or the phone.”_ And of course, there came a point when she'd folded her arms, stuck out her lip and said "Not unless you tell me where you're going!"

Buffy had told her usually that it was to meet her boyfriend (which Dawn discovered later, was kind of true) Dawn had accepted it for a while but weird things kept happening. Things that didn't really make any sense. Like Halloween. Dawn didn't remember much of Halloween. She'd worn a goblin costume and it had been fun at first but then things had got strange. Buffy had told her that she'd eaten too much candy while trick-or-treating and told her to forget about it.

But then there was Ted. Ted, who'd been so nice and then Buffy had pushed him down the stairs and it had all been awful. And then he'd come back. Horribly. Her Mom had been unconscious and Buffy had told Dawn to stay upstairs but she hadn't and she'd seen ...

"He's a robot," she whispered. "You killed a robot!"

"Dawnie, I'll explain later. Go back upstairs to Mom and don't tell her _anything_ , okay? _Nothing_."

So Dawn had obeyed and waited and eventually, after a few phone calls, Buffy came and sat in her room with her and stroked her hair and explained that maybe, some of the stuff in her diary hadn't been her getting sick and needing to go away to hospital. That maybe, there were real things out there. Horrible things. That Buffy fought every night, saving the world from evil creatures.

“You can’t ever tell, Dawnie,” Buffy said. “You have to promise. Mom and Dad … they can’t know. _No one_ can know. Okay?”

It was easy to promise. Buffy was her big sister. Buffy had always taken care of her. Dawn always wanted to fit in with her big sister. Of course she wouldn’t tell anyone about the fact that her sister was a superhero! It would be just like the games they’d used to play.

Except, of course, it wasn’t. Buffy still wouldn’t let her get involved. Things got scary all of a sudden with Buffy’s boyfriend becoming terrifying. And then Buffy disappeared and Mom worried and worried and nearly forgot that Dawn was worried too. In fact, as far as Dawn was concerned, there was a lot of time spent forgetting her. Because she wasn’t a super-hero. She wasn’t special. She wasn’t _anything_.

There were a lot of problems with having a sister who was a real live super-hero.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 12dayschristmas


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